From knowledge to practice
We have also stepped up our due diligence processes and changed our contract regularly to (foremost) tackle the number of irregularity cases. We are working with grantee partners but still are a donor who needs to respond and report to its back donor. Additionally, the understanding and agreement that all Voice-teams use Oxfam Novib Adobe systems for grantee partner management has enormously facilitated the programme monitoring and management. And at the level of programme management and linking and learning, all teams use their own accounting systems but consolidate in one overall
standard financial report.We have another three years to shine on and continue institutionalising what we are learning. We aim to get even more voices heard and people seen; basically, building on the base we have created. Additionally, there shall be opportunities for former grantee partners to further deepen their work which they started. And more avenues for grantee partners to take an active role continue.
According to the MTR findings, the added value of the Voice programme is not derived from its contractual status, nor because of its focus on marginalised and discriminated groups. Instead, the added value of Voice lies in itsdemonstratedability to give practical meaning to the notion “nothing about us, without us” by creating and managing an easily accessible grant funding mechanism. Voice’s added value is its ability to mobilise and work with hundreds of grantee partners that in majority directly represent Voice’s rightsholder groups. This said, it is important to note that the original tender set-up and the programme structure haven’t fully allowed for optimal realisation of this concept (such as for example not being able to contract and work directly with informal groups but having to do so via so- called host organisations).
Voice started out as a grant making facility to revolutionise access of grants to rightsholders who were constantly marginalised and discriminated against. Our grant making approach has not followed the traditional funding processes already embodied within Hivos/Oxfam Novib systems, but this has continued to be a challenge. To manage risks in the grant-making processes, Voice has had to apply several due diligence processes and documentation requests that might be considered as contradictory to our intention to facilitate flexible procedures for grantee partners. Voice is also cognisant of the fact that to be different in our grant making approach, it is important to approach grant making from a place of trust and compassion. As we have tried to navigate this space, we still face the challenge of building trust versus accountability. We have learnt that attitude amongst the grant-making teams is important as we seek to build trust with our grantee partners from the start of the engagement. This has meant that while a grantee partner requests for a grant for specific activities, the teams need to better understand their working context so as not to work from a position of ignorance, and cultivate accountability through relationship building.
Shining on
In the next chapter, we address the Voice Theo- ry of Change, it’s evolution over the lasts years based on the lessons gathered through to the mid-point of implementation, stories of change and project impact stories that spotlight grant- ee partners’ experiences of engaging with the three pathways embedded in the Theory of Change and the successes and challenges of influencing. Diving into the stories allowed us to evaluate how far we have delivered on the promise and moved closer to the realisation of our dream.
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